New Year's Eve

Trevor Bickford - who was also charged with two counts of attempted assault - travelled to NYC by train from Maine before the attack, police said.

US media reported his family recently told the FBI they feared he was being radicalised by Islamist extremists.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was "unprovoked".

The three officers - one of whom suffered a fractured skull after being struck by the machete - were all released from hospital on Sunday.

The kingdom’s Health State of Emergency has been renewed for another month, staring 8:00pm today to 8:00pm 17 January 2022.

The Health State of Emergency was first declared by Prime Minister Dr Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa on March 12, 2020 under the Emergency Management Act.

Since then, it has been renewed on a monthly basis and enforced by the Ministry of Police and His Majesty's Armed Forces.

The 20-year-old Werribee man accused of the terrorism plot was described by police as one of their "high persons of interest".

Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said they believed the man was trying to get an automatic rifle to "shoot and kill as many people as he could" around Federation Square, in Melbourne's CBD, during New Year's Eve celebrations.

Police said they moved in because the man had been having face-to-face meetings about getting a gun.